Blog
23 march 2014, the bearly new world order
Excellent article in this week's economist, that calls putin's russian aggression in the crimea what it is: bold non-acceptance of the shaky current world order and the consequential plunging of the whole world into a new and highly-uncertain one. I would mesh this with my oft-commented remarks about the old world's inability to integrate the new, mainly china, into its real seats of power, that have left the now-emerged powers less than enthusiastic about the status-quo, and hence largely ambivalent about this step towards its destruction. 1989 and the soviet union's collapse produced a "unipolar moment" for the american "indispensable nation", epitomised by the first Gulf War (see how we made the fatal mistake of not talking to hamas). This quickly though gave way to an era, later embraced by the obama administration, where the usa was still hegemonistic enough to veto action by others, but could not itself succeed without others' acquiescence. When little serbia challenged the order it was stamped on until brought back into line. When medium-sized iran did it, it has at least been held in check and the limits of this influence-without-aggression doctrine are still being tested. When big nuclear-armed russia does it though - houston, we have a problem. The world's feeble and divided response does not bode well for how the old order can cope, adapt or co-opt the new others and re-establish something like international ground rules that all feel bound to act by. The absence of that looks chillingly like the 1930s, the last time no such world order existed. Though cries of "alarmist" go up whenever this comparison gets made, it is not untoward.
21 march 2014, end of another era
Yesterday was the first day of spring, and the last day of my new economy era (see 31 january 2014, up, up and away and other chestnuts). Although work insisted on materialising right to the very end (and is no doubt piling up already in my absence, though that is now for my erstwhile successor), I managed, I hope, in my last weeks to pass on some wisdom of the six years I have spent building and managing our little empire, which I hope over that time has done as much good as I think it has. The name came from an odd voting process many moons ago, and wasn't one that anyone wanted, but I do recall our marketing guru of the time telling us it was just an empty vessel and over time it would become known for whatever we put in it. These years later, how right she was. What the organisation does is extremely well-regarded and held up, rightly so, as a model for what every city needs, in the uk at least. I take as a great achievement building and endlessly nurturing the many, varied and ever-evolving team that does what we do and take great pride in what I have now left behind. Monday saw a touching presentation in the office, and the finale last night was drinks and a splendid farewell dinner at my favourite restaurant in the city that I do feel I have now left some mark on.
12 march 2014, ukraine, minus a bit
Though we obsess about it, europe rarely deserves global geopolitical headlines. Ukraine though, is an exception. The baltic states were desperate to join the eu in the 1990s because it enabled them, like drunken boxers, to pull the rope over their heads and step out of the ring to the promised land that for all europe's many faults they still enjoy. Ukraine had no such luck, and remained from that day to this in the vague netherland that is soviet union post-sovereignty. For most russians the crimea always was and always will be part of russia, but it was tolerable having it nominally in the ukraine, as long as russia retained sufficient influence in its "near abroad". The day that went was the day they needed somewhat more control, and there are no armies that will be pushing them out, leaving it like transnistria, like south ossetia and like abhazia what some call frozen conflicts and others simply russia. In huntington's seminal and fantastic clash of civilsations, ukraine lies on a fault line between two (see how we made the fatal mistake of not talking to hamas): the slavic-orthodox and the western. Geographically, ukraine is in europe, which reaches north to the arctic sea, west to the atlantic, south to the mediterranean and east to a line generally taken to follow the urals, the emba, the kuma-manych depression and then the caspian, black, aegean and mediterranean seas. Politically, joining europe will be the work of generations.
27 february 2014, sleepwalking towards the exit
This is clearly the phrase du jour on britain and europe at the moment, and was implied when angela merkel spoke today to britain's 1, 500 or so parliamentarians, though she clearly doesn't think it may happen. It may. As the uk's finance minister, and second in command, has made very clear, the ruling centre-right conservatives will go into the election on 7 may 2015 with a pretty cast-iron guarantee to hold a referendum on whether britain should stay in or leave. While the centre-left labour are so far holding the line, they are hardly enthusiastic and the pressure on them going into the election will intensify massively. A significant slice of labourites and a big and ever-larger slug of conservatives will anyway be voting openly to go. Even those, like the prime minister, who say they want to be able to vote to stay in, say they will do so only on the basis of negotiating a substantially reformed eu, details of which stubbornly refuse to emerge, though it should limit freedom of movement and give the uk some sort of additional veto rights, "if you cannot protect the collective interests of [britain], then [we] will have to choose between joining the eurozone, which the uk will not do, or leave the european union." The hope is that this threat will increase the chances of such substantial change from effectively zero. However, those "wellwishers" are going to be left either defending a "reform" package that is little more than window dressing, or crossing over to say we tried but we failed, so we're better off out. In any case, whatever politicians say, evidence points more and more to a referendum being totally unwinnable, meaning if we have one, the uk will leave. The inability to change now what will in this way become an inevitability, is exactly sleepwalking towards the exit.
10 february 2014, less than chinese pandas
At last, a decent article about the scottish independence referendum coming up later this year (15 dec 2012, scotland the knave; 8 may 2011, scotland the brave), from andrew rawnsley. He makes the point that the real risk of the result is less that it is a yes, which is highly unlikely, but rather that it is close, opening the way to holding another one in some years time, the "neverendum" situation that canada found itself in for decades as quebec tried to leave, though never did. The nationalists only need to win one. What finally did for the quebecois, he says, was lovebombing by the rest of canada, so david cameron, rather mocked for asking the english and welsh to phone a friend north of the border, may be on to something; as he may by wading in to set sights not just on a no but on a clear no. Whether a conservative (one mp in scotland, less than its panda population) and old etonian to boot shouting up from london (indeed from a monument of taxpayer money spent in the capital) will help the cause is a moot point. Like most brits and indeed, the polls suggest, most scots, I would rather the scots didn't go independent and don't think they will. I fear more a referendum legacy of more rights, devolution, freedoms and flexibilities for scotland's 4 million voters from an exceptionally centralised state, while the 3 million people of manchester, like the rest of england's great cities, find themselves at a further disadvantage, impotent between london's fierce economic dynamism and scotland's ever greater ability to box clever.
2 february 2014, of russian men
Over 25% of russian men die before reaching 55, a signal cause of russia's declining population and highlighting of how its place in the "bric" pantheon is unsustainable, based as it is increasingly entirely on its temporary oil prowess. The function of studies is often to ramp up the basis for action on what we already know to be true. The fact that russia men who down large amounts of vodka die very young falls, at least for me, into that category. I know this to be true from my own experience, having spent quite a lot of time in different bits of russia in the 1990s and been astounded by the cultural propensity and capacity of russian men (and it was men) to drink vodka. It was a norm to have half a largish tumbler with lunch and dinner, before even getting to serious evening drinking, where two or three can easily get through a bottle. During seminars, when my western counterparts might have popped outside for a smoke, many of the russians would bring out the hip flask and have a vodka break. A favourite trick in saunas (of which we had many) was to pour vodka rather than water on the heat, which vaporises and leaves the uninitiated wildly drunk. And my company, I should quickly admit, were of the bourgeois, reasonable, educated population, far from those you would expect to be the worst in this respect (I saw no zapoi). And for me personally, I should quickly admit, I managed just one day of trying to keep up before realising I would be absolutely doomed even trying, for while I was under the table, my colleagues and friends were happily going about the demanding daily tasks we were pursuing, seemingly unaffected bar a wry sense of humour and abandon being rather more pronounced in what is a wonderful aspect of russian culture. Though I have a slav heritage myself (see 15 sept 2013, been a while) this bit of the self is, I suppose, nurture not nature.
31 january 2014, up, up and away and other chestnuts
After some six years in my current role, I am moving on, although my other half is very happy that for once a change of job isn't bringing intercontinental upheaval. The jt were very interested. I am becoming a director at the manchester airports group. The group is largely owned by greater manchester's local authorities, so there is some follow-through for me, as there is too in the train of thought (or flight of fancy), brilliantly captured in aerotropolis, that sees airports increasingly as centres of global production and enterprise in their own right and so powerful engines of local economic development. Our own airport city may well be an exemplar of the approach. Having just bought stansted, a london airport, its - cliché alert, sorry - an incredibly exciting time to join a group clearly going places. For me its the right set of new challenges at the right time. My seat belt is fastened and I am ready for take off...
12 january 2014, another round needed
In the run up to every european election, the pitch gets a little higher that this time around (the quiet road to 2009) each party will select a pan-european candidate for commission president, giving the election more singularity and bite, and helping to bridge the "democratic deficit". This would build on what, despite falling turnout, is the ever more powerful european parliament (13 march 2013, not the papal elections; parliament of bores ?; 12 february 2011, strasbourg: bring the roof down). At the same time the powers that be, to date the member states, also appoint the council president, the otherwise-named foreign minister (21 november 2009, what to say of ashton and humpty rumpty) and nato's secretary-general (12 june 2011, two decades later...). Come the may elections then, expect to hear the name martin shulz, the candidate-to-be of the centre left. Although how much the uk labour party will push forward a german as the likely result of voting for them remains to be seen. The leading liberal candidates are ollie rehn (who I've met and rate) and (surely-not) guy verhofstadt. Least likely of all to push forward a unitary-candiate are the merkel-led centre-right, with the dominant view being these roles are for member states to decide. This creates the prospect of one side doing it, the another not and so it will be hard to analyse what difference it makes. Anyway, the biggest story of the elections looks already written, namely to what degree can the assorted anti-federalists of the front national, ukip, jobbik, gert wilders et al (23 september 2013, europe is not (too) right) sweep all before them, and in their wake can any clutch of new appointments have the legitimacy they need to conduct the eu's business. Probably, is the answer, but surely not without taking yet anotherstep back not forward in answering the democratic deficit questions.
31 december 2013, a janus moment
A new year and indeed new era begins shortly, and perhaps in preparation I have spent much of the last quiet days back on my family tree (8, 15 september 2013, looking up and been a while), now also taking shape on my study wall. We did have a few days out, with a delightful family visit to cambridge flanked by an afternoon in lincoln, a delicious michelin star lunch and west side story. The major events of the year will be in october, and there's already much to prepare, both for my son (which he is duly getting on with) and for me, which is what I will devote the small remainder of my holiday to, bar some new year party antics. Life feels all rather mature, and a few friends I have recently heard from for the first time in a while suggests I am not alone. Home is a warm place right now and its been a lovely time to enjoy it.
11 december 2013, 11/12/13
Apart from it being an odd date day, today must be the first one in a while that has seen hundreds of thousands of people on the street protesting in favour of the european union. Whilst on western shores the european tide seems to be ebbing ever further away from the demos, to the east it retains a powerful pull. Earlier this year, (1 july 2013, and now we're 28) croatia celebrated becoming the 28th member state of the union and in 3 weeks latvia will become the eurozone's 18th member. This will delight coin collectors, with a whole new set euro set, but leave governance-hawks still waiting for the ecb governing council's rotation scheme to finally kick in. On the streets of kiev, the cries are for a european perspective. Strengthening ukraine's link to brussels has now become the defining political issue on which the government, at an election or before, will be chosen. Catherine ashton, the eu's challenged foreign minister/high-representative, is a hero of the crowd, fresh from being a significant influence in egypt and iran, where the much-discussed "g3", with ashton representing the various eu countries, made a significant appearance. Don't abandon yet the notion it will one day be time for europe.